Page 157 of Unexpected

“And finally, when he almost ran me over, knocking me to the ground, Bear lost it. He hauled me up, pushed me behind him and tore into the man. It took all of the bouncers in the place to pull him from the bar. We were thrown out of the back, and God, you should have seen him. He was covered in blood, there was blood all over the dance floor, and there was a fire in his eyes that I just wanted to burn in.” Valerie glanced back at me and licked her lips. “The man didn’t press charges because he himself had warrants out for his arrest, but my Bear could have killed him. And the thought of that…” She trailed off, glancing back over at Hazel, who was more awake now. “Sex was always best when you were pissed, and that night was no different. We came up to this exact room and fucked like it was the only thing that would keep us alive.”

Valerie, in her high-heeled black boots, closed the distance between us and, with the gun still trained on Hazel, ran her manicured nails down my chest, over my stomach until she cupped me through my jeans. Her touch was revolting and made me want to shed my skin as I felt the warmth of her palm through the denim. I tried to back away, but she just gripped me harder. My stomach rolled and I made the mistake of looking at Hazel over Valerie’s shoulder.

A single tear fell down her already bruised cheek and mixed with the dried blood just below her nose.

“And the entire time you were fucking me up against the boxes, all I could think was that I would love you for my entire life. We even had a conversation while you wereinsideof me.” She gritted her teeth, pushed closer to me, and squeezed me harder, digging her nails into the fabric. “Do you remember what I told you?”

Fuming, I shook my head, knowing it would only upset her more if I didn’t feed into her story and go along with her lies.

“I do, of course, but I remember all of it. I told you that you could have killed that fucking guy, and you said you would kill someone for the people you love, for me. And I felt it, Bear. I knew you meant it, and I told you that killing someone for the person you love is the most romantic gesture I could think of; it shows a certain amount of devotion and bravery that nothing else can compare to. And you agreed, Bear,” she said, removing her hand from my pants to drag her nails down my face. “You told me that that was your version of real, true love.”

She was so close I could feel her breath on my skin, and even in the cold room, I was sweating through my clothes.

“Do you still think that, Bear? That killing someone is a way of showing your love for someone else? And don’t hold back this time, I want to hear what you have to say.”

I heaved a momentary sigh of relief when she stepped back. I had a minimal recollection of that conversation, and it was probably because I was in the throes of sex. It was too easy to get lost in my head when I was high off the adrenaline of beating the shit out of someone combined with sex hormones. During our relationship, Valerie learned that the best way to get me to do something or agree to something was during sex, although, she had no issue manipulating me outside of the bedroom either. Back then, nothing I said during that act should have been used against me.

But I vaguely remembered her mumbling those words.

Valerie cleared her throat, drawing my attention back to her, and looked at me expectantly.

“I think it’s all subjective,” I said, unable to think of anything else in the moment.

She shook her head like that was not what she wanted to hear. “Don’t lie to me. I know you would kill someone for the person you love. To protect the person you love most in this world, you would kill someone,” she stated, not questioning that I would still do it, and I would.

“Yes,” I said, locking eyes with Hazel. There were more tears now, and I was about to expand on my answer when something to the right of the room caught my eye. The door between our room and the next barely moved on its hinges, but it did.

I’m not sure how he did it, but Josh managed to open the door just enough to peek through the small opening without making a sound. He was lucky—as were we all—that Valerie’s back was to the door. Her right hand held the gun steady, still pointing it at Hazel, while she watched me to her left.

Once I noticed Josh, I quickly averted my eyes back to Valerie. I didn’t know what he had planned, but I hoped my little brother had something up his sleeve.

“I knew you would. That’s so good—” As Valerie began speaking once more, Josh attempted to swing the door even wider. But his second attempt wasn’t as silent as the first. The distinctive sound of movement behind her made Valerie whip her head toward Hazel.

The last thing we needed was Valerie opening fire at Hazel or Josh or anyone, so I pulled her attention back to me the only way I knew how.

“Princess, look at me.” The words were sour on my tongue, and I had a hard time believing that I managed to get them out without puking up the contents of my stomach. The old pet name was one I swore to never fucking say again, and I told Valerie as much, but seeing her face, you wouldn’t know that.

Her head turned on a dime, and she inhaled a sharp breath. In a turn I wasn’t expecting, her eyes grew wide, and she appeared more like the woman I met so many years ago. There was hope in her eyes and less anger and tension in her jaw and the rest of her features.

She was delusional, and the way she flipped from murderous to innocent in an instant just proved it further. The last thing I wanted to do was pretend for even a second that there was something more than feelings of disdain and complete hatred between us, but to give Josh an opportunity to do whatever the fuck he was planning on doing, I’d do it.

“This doesn’t need to be complicated, right?”

My eyes briefly connected with Josh’s on the other side of the door, and he nodded. He knew what I was doing or at least knew it was as a diversion for him.

“No, Bear, it doesn’t,” Valerie said, taking a small step toward me but keeping the gun trained on Hazel.

I chanced a glance at Hazel while Valerie shifted her eyes to her as well. If I never saw her cry again, it would be too soon. The tears were streaming down her face, and her cheeks were flushed, probably from the pain.

And I knew I’d do anything for her, even pretend to understand what my delusional ex-wife was talking about. It was the only way I’d be able to ensure that she wouldn’t hurt Hazel and Josh would have the opportunity to open the damn door.

“You look good, Valerie.”

She was vain, and she loved compliments about her appearance. She craved knowing that she was the best-looking person in a room, bar none. She grinned like I knew she would.

“Why the theatrics, Princess? Did you really want my attention that bad? Do you still need me? We grew out of each other. That’s why we had to part ways; you know all of this. So, why did you have to take it this far? I don’t understand the point of all of this,” I waved my hands, motioning at the room around us. “Pretending to be someone else, the fake social media accounts, taking those photos of us, following me.”

I had talked long enough that Josh was able to push the door open a few more inches but not enough to move the boxes that were in front of it. Whatever he had in mind likely required a clear path and those boxes had to move at least a few more inches.

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